


envy

by Emitsu



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Based on the Persona 5 Manga Anthology vol 2 chapter 16 "running across the valley", Character Interaction, a bit angst maybe?, akechi and ryuji interaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 06:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12075060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emitsu/pseuds/Emitsu
Summary: Ryuji hated Akechi's guts. So how exactly did he end up in the mess of having to run away from a hoard of bloodthirsty fans together with the detective prince?! | Based on the Persona 5 Manga Anthology





	envy

**Author's Note:**

> //rises from the dead//  
> someonetellmewhyididntfindthep5anathologyearlier oh my god  
> So, I came across the super sweet (and heartbreaking) manga short, and it immediately gave me the idea for this OS. It took some dialogue from the chapter, which I'll link in the end notes. What I'll say about it is that I wish a scene like this was in the game... so badly. I need it. Please be in the anime.  
> I hope you enjoy this! I don't think I saw a fic with these two really interacting so far, which makes me kind of sad considering they're two of my favorite characters and they're super interesting together. I apologize for any errors, it's late and I didnt proof read yet welp.

Ryuji Sakamoto groaned.

Why, you ask?

Because it was HOT.

There were only two kinds of hot. One of them was the good one; the one where you wake up, go outside, take a deep breath and think "hey, I can chill and relax outside today without having to put on too many clothes!"

The other one was the kind where it's either jumping off a roof or walking through burning hell.

Sadly, today the second option was the case, and Ryuji could do nothing against it except for moaning and complaining in a low voice about how awful everything was. Not only was he burning, when he asked Akira earlier if he was free, the black haired boy had shot him down by saying he was already meeting with Ann. Damn the guy and his good connection to all the girls. It wasn’t fair!

…not that he cared much. He could understand what the girls saw in him (not meaning _he'd_ ever fall for him of course!), although the guy didn’t even seem to care about that. He was just glad he could spend time with his friends. Ryuji smiled slightly to himself. He was honestly proud to be able to call himself Akira's best friend (and could only hope the other shared the sentiment). Because, hey-

"Ah!" Ryuji got dragged out of his wordless musings when his eyes fell on a certain someone sitting alone under a tree on the bench he had just planned on sitting down on. His eyes narrowed and he tsked while he stared at the person, more surprised than anything, really, but judging by the calculating gaze he got in response, he probably didn’t look very friendly.

Something about Goro Akechi's gaze always put him on edge; it wasn’t different this time, something about the way the detective looked at him just unsettled him. After a few seconds of staring into each other's eyes, he finally let out another tsk, "Like this shitty hot weather wasn’t enough already… things got even more awful!" Akechi blinked once, twice, before turning his head away and raising a hand to cover his mouth, a soft laughter escaping him. "Haha, what a coincidence meeting you here, Sakamoto-kun. You don't seem to like me very much." He turned back to him, still smiling, eyes closed in a way which only helped to further piss Ryuji off. "Don't worry, you won't have to look at me for much longer. I was just sorting my documents." Ryuji's gaze fell onto the papers the brown haired boy was holding.

"Pretty sneaky place to do that." – "Ah, I was just trying to not get seen by others, so I chose a place out of everyone's sight-"

Ryuji huffed, placing his hands on his waist. "Out of everyone's sight, hm?"

It was probably because of his involvement with the Phantom Thieves – which yours truly happened to be a member of – but he couldn’t bring himself to like the detective one bit. Maybe it wasn’t fair since he hadn’t personally done anything to him, but… even so! All the attention and fame he got just pissed him off! _They_ were supposed to be the good ones, the ones all the ladies were after, not this… this…

No no no no, it wasn’t that Ryuji was just being jealous,okay?! It wasn’t, alright! There was more to it! There was, but…

He felt his eyebrow twitch when Akechi kept smiling. Okay, the bastard just got on his nerves.

"So even the famous _detective prince_ Goro Akechi has problems, huh. Must be _so_ tough on you…"

At first he couldn’t understand why Akechi's face suddenly fell; his first thought was that maybe he finally managed to hit a nerve and tickle a reaction out of the composed bastard, but when his ears suddenly got violated from all sides with screeching girl voices screaming things like "THE Akechi?!" or "The detective prince?!", "I'm a big fan!!", he realized his mistake. _Oh shit._

A quick look over the shoulder confirmed his suspicions; a hoard of fans had gathered behind him, getting drawn to his words like moths to the light.

Maybe he had just done something he shouldn’t.

"Uh… look, I didn’t mean to…" Dammit, it was so easy to forget he was talking to a celebrity! Everything about the guy screamed "loser" at him (except maybe for his good looks, charm, politeness, or…. Damn.) so he got careless. Akechi only looked at him with a blank stare, as if considering which way would be the most painful to get rid of Ryuji. The blond wanted to say more, but jumped when a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder from behind. A high-pitched but male voice rose above the noise which had formed by now, right into his ear, "You! You seem awfully close to Akechi-san. Could it be you're his… his friend?" – "'Scuse me?!" – "Hey, let's be friends too, okay? Show me how to befriend Akechi-san!" Ryuji was at a loss for words. He simply stared at the person behind the voice (a creepy looking dude with glasses) with a bewildered expression. Tension filled the air, and Ryuji was frozen, until suddenly a hand grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from the weird guy, away from the mass of people who began chasing after the two high schoolers as soon as they set off.

"What's done is done! It's just an unexpected turn of events!", Akechi called cheerfully, letting go of his wrist and gaining more speed. Damn, the guy was really fast! So he was athletic too?!

More screams reached him from behind. He was pretty effing sure he heard something along the lines of "please marry me and have my babies, Akechi-kun!".

"Woah woah, aren't your fans too damn scary?!", he panted. He looked at the other from the corner of his eyes.

"Hmm, yes, I am surprised myself that my constant achievements would lead to such results", he said thoughtfully, and something about the way he said it seriously pissed Ryuji off, although in a more harmless way this time. Still, how could he be so full of himself?!

A short, but sharp ache.

"H-hey, shouldn’t we split up? That way each of us will get only half the crowd…" As soon as the words had left his mouth, someone to his right yelled, "There they are! We can see them, thanks for the head up!", then from his left, "If we can corner them using everyone's help, we can catch them !" Ryuji dreaded that thought, and from what he could see of Akechi, the detective didn’t seem fond of it either.

So they kept up their insane speed (how could a slender looking guy like him have stamina like that?!), and with every step, the ache got stronger. _Shit, I can't last…-_ "Hey, it's as Taka-chan told me per line! It's really the detective prince!" Had Ryuji any air left in his lungs, he would’ve groaned.

"Damn this fucking social network era!"

 _And why are there so many damn hills in Shibuya?!_ He really should have trained more with Akira. Fuck Kamoshida, it was all his damn fault he slowly but surely began to struggle keeping up with Akechi's pace.

He heard said detective mumble something next to him, but couldn’t quite make out the words.

Suddenly, the presence next to him was gone. Ryuji barely managed to stop without tripping, whirling around. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?!"

"Go on without me." Ryuji rolled his eyes; was Akechi trying to play hero now out of all times? And with a cheesy line like that too! "It's not like we'll solve this issue by running around, right? I should be able to calm them down on my own somehow. I'm sure they will understand if I talk to them. They are my fans after all…"

For a damn second, Ryuji hesitated.

Why? He hated this guy's guts, he didn’t really have any reason to feel bad. So- "Ah, okay then!! Bye!! But don’t expect to hear a thanks from me or anything, okay?!" He was already on the run again when he finished the sentence.

_Thank god, I can get away safely._

He could, but… why didn’t it sit quite right with him? Really not knowing the reason, he risked one last look over his shoulder-

And froze.

Without thinking, he changed directions and dashed towards Akechi, trying his best to ignore his leg's protests. He grabbed the detective, who was in the middle of giving a speech and was so confused by what exactly was happening, he didn’t even react and just let himself get dragged along. For a moment, it was silent behind them, and it wasn’t until they were out of sight that the upset screams of Akechi's so-called "fans" reached them.

* * *

 

Panting, sweating and cursing, Ryuji finally came to a halt when the last voices were lost in the maze which was Shibuya. He let go of Akechi, who was looking at him in… suspicion? Man, he had just saved the guy's life!

Not minding the other boy for now, he made his way over to the nearest vending machine and bought two Super Vitamin C drinks. When he returned, Akechi had slit down the wall, sitting on the ground, lost in thoughts apparently. Now, that was a surprise, considering he never let his guard down around others. "Here." He extended his arm so the detective could take the bottle. Akechi looked up in surprise, before slowly reaching out to accept the drink. After looking at it, a look Ryuji had never seen before on his face appeared. "…carbonated?" No way, was it displeasure?!

"Well, yeah, I like it. Give it back if you don’t want it!" Jeez, why didn’t anyone like carbonated drinks?!

He opened his own bottle. "There's no one living here, so we can hide here until your fans calmed down." He licked his lips; he was thirsty as shit, and the solution to that problem was so close-

"Hm… it's a bad idea to drink a carbonated drink after sprinting at full speed. You could choke on it." Ryuji startled and nearly dropped the bottle, cursing softly.

"Know-it-all." As expected, Akechi ignored his comment.

"Your stamina is quite impressive."

"Nah man, that’s you. You have the looks, and now you're damn effing good at running too?" _Wait, what am I saying?!_ Someone tell him he didn’t just say that out loud. Planning to quickly distract from the topic, he added, "Man, how come Shibuya's got so many hills anyway?! I'm freaking exhausted!"

"I could see that", Akechi said thoughtfully. Ryuji blinked, taken off guard.

"What?" – "Oh, I'm sorry. I don’t mean to insult you. It's just that I noticed you started looking a bit… pained after running for a while, and later, you almost tripped multiple times and began to limp." Ryuji scratched the back of his head. _Crap, he noticed that?_ He wouldn’t ever admit it, but it still embarrassed him to get called out on his leg and weird way of walking. _Hey, wait…_

"Don't tell me that's why you decided to play hero and give me an opening to escape?" Akechi's gaze shot over to him and Ryuji flinched when they locked eyes, the surprise in the other's brown eyes confusing him.

When he noticed how startled Ryuji was, Akechi quickly covered it up by raising a hand to his chin and looking down, thinking. "Hmm, well… I guess so?"

"You guess so?!" The brown haired boy laughed.

"I'm sorry. Maybe this was a subconscious action. " – "A what now?" The other regarded him with a look which made Ryuji feel like he just gave the wrong answer in one of their classes. He hated that feeling.

"What I'm saying is, maybe I took notice of your troubles, and, while I didn’t actually think about it, it may have been the initial motive behind my actions."

"Aha." Akechi chuckled.

"Let's leave it at that. More importantly, you are way more open around me than I would have thought. From now on I will definitely come and talk to you." Ryuji huffed.

"Nah, thanks. I hate show-offs like you." He tapped his foot against the ground when he didn’t get an answer and risked a glance at the other boy, eyes widening ever so slightly when he noticed the solemn look on his face. "W-what?"

"If you hate me so…" Akechi crossed his arms, and he suddenly looked way more like the teenager he actually is than the mature detective he usually makes himself out to be. "Then why did you come back for me? Wouldn’t it have been better for you to run off alone?"

Why, indeed.

"Uh… because…" Ryuji tried to find the right words, but he couldn’t really explain it himself.

"…because… because you looked so freaking lonely, dammit!" He felt his cheeks burn at the surprised, wide eyed stare Akechi gave him.

"W-what?"  Ryuji bit his lip.

"Y'know, when you were standing in front of the crowd… you were surrounded by so many people. They all are your fans and care for you, but…I dunno, for some reason it felt like you were all alone out there. And I… I just hated the idea of leaving you behind looking like that, okay?!" _Crap, this is embarrassing._ But he couldn’t explain it any better.

When he had turned back at that time… the picture before him had just seemed so _wrong._ There was that guy he was just talking to, and suddenly he was surrounded by so many people; people who loved and admired him, who looked up to him and wanted to be his friend. And he usually envied him for that, dammit! But…

He had only heard little parts of what Akechi had told his fans, but it had sounded empty. While his voice had been as charming as always, something about him had seemed… off. He didn’t fit in with those people. They didn’t want to be his friend because they liked him as a person (they wouldn’t want to be his friend at all then), just because he was… their idol. Or just _an_ idol.

"…If it had been the me from before, I may have just ran off alone without a second thought. But…"

 

_"Come on, Ryuji! You can do it, give your best!"_

_"Don’t give in Skull! We can do this!"_

_"We worked really hard today, huh. I hope you can get back into track again soon."_

"I have someone I can run with now, whether it's uphill or downhill, or at the bottom of the valley, laughing the whole time. I may have been influenced by that guy…and the other people around here." _Shit shit shit this is so embarrassing! What the eff am I saying?!_

"A-anyway! This time was an exception, okay?! I'm not ever gonna do that again! And don’t come talk to me, bye!" He ran off, not looking back, heart beating fast because _this is so cheesy and embarrassing please swallow me up ground!_ , leaving behind a speechless Goro Akechi.

 

 

"Hmph…" Akechi narrowed his eyes slightly, before giving in and allowing himself a small smile. "Running with people really is exhausting."

And words he'd never speak out loud or even allow himself to think crept up and got pushed back into the depths of his dark mind.

_I envy you, Sakamoto-kun._

**Author's Note:**

> Read the translated chapter here:  
> http://maboroshi-no.tumblr.com/post/164688630704/title-running-across-the-valley-artist  
> I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know your opinion!  
> I wish I wouldve found the anathology earlier! I want to read the manga so badly orz  
> Thanks a lot for reading!


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